The South African office of Siemens Automation and Drives invited some of its key clients to attend the industrial exhibition – Hannover Faire 2001 – to witness the launch of a range of exciting new products. Under the guidance of the Sales Manager, Raymond Padayachee, the group also visited some of Siemens’ hi-tech manufacturing facilities to gain a better insight as to the workings of this industrial giant.
* Integrated technologies such as Totally Integrated Automation and Integrated Drive Systems help generate competitive advantages for industry.
* Digital Enterprise Platform as the basis for Industrie 4.0.
* Data-Driven Services enhance availability, productivity and efficiency.
* Totally Integrated Power provides safe, economical power distribution.
The Siemens presentation at the Hannover Messe 2014 is focused on setting the right technological course for the production of the future. “Advancing digitisation and networking and the convergence taking place between the virtual and real worlds are decisive drivers for manufacturing industry. Companies are increasingly turning to innovative and integrated technologies in a bid to strengthen their competitive position”, said Anton S. Huber, CEO of the Siemens Industry Automation Division, at the press conference ahead of this year’s Hannover Messe. “With its Digital Enterprise Platform, Siemens is working on an overarching approach linking PLM software with engineering applications and integrated automation. This is the approach which will create the foundation for Industrie 4.0”. Alongside new products for its Integrated Drive Systems (IDS) and the Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) portfolio, the company will also be presenting its new 'Data-Driven Services' based on the acquisition, analysis and evaluation of production data. The industrial equipment supplier will also be showcasing new developments and concepts for efficient, safe power distribution and supply to factories and industrial plants with its Totally Integrated Power (TIP) portfolio at the Siemens booth in Hall 9.
Under the banner 'Making things right', the 3500 square meter Siemens booth in Hall 9 will be providing an overview of its portfolio catering to customers from all walks of industry. Its integrated approach to modern industrial manufacturing is reflected in the booth layout, covering the entire product development and production process in five stages from design, planning, and engineering to execution and services, each with its own dedicated highlight exhibit featuring an array of new products and solutions. In an extended booth area entitled the 'Future Forum' with an additional stage and high-resolution circular LED display measuring eight meters across, Siemens will be showcasing research topics from every area of the company’s activity and at the same time offering visitors a glimpse into the future.
Talking about the booth concept for the Hannover Messe 2014, Anton S. Huber explained: “Siemens supports the entire industrial value chain of its customers with integrated software and cohesive technologies designed to improve the workflow and enhance the productivity and efficiency of the companies we serve.” Particular importance is attached to the converging process taking place between the virtual and the real worlds. Huber: “With the advent of digitisation in the world of manufacturing, we are facing a paradigm shift as we approach the next productivity stage. By integrating product development and production life cycles, in other words ideally pursuing a parallel development of products and manufacturing environments, we can expect a reduction in the time to market of up to 50%.”
Efficiency gains in the engineering process are also increasing in importance all the time, in the view of Anton S. Huber. The growing scope and complexity of automation processes will see the future costs of engineering spiralling ever higher. Using the TIA Portal, users can consistently drive down these expenses through the introduction of intuitive user prompting and consistent data maintenance. “Software support for engineering processes remains one of the most important productivity levers for industry”, according to Huber. “With the TIA Portal, customers are able to translate the productivity gains achieved by additional automation into a tangible cost benefit”. The recently released Version 13 of the TIA Portal has been improved in a number of functional areas – such as the diagnostic concept, know-how protection and synchronised team cooperation for large-scale projects. In addition, engineering tools such as the Simatic WinCC V13 scada (supervisory control and data acquisition) software have been integrated into the standardised work environment, and in terms of drive technology, the Sinamics G110M converter family has been upgraded for project engineering in the TIA Portal.
Within the framework of its 'Integrated Drive Systems' (IDS) concept presented for the first time at last year’s Hannover Messe, Siemens is showcasing new components such as its Sinamics G110M frequency converter, which works with Simogear motors to achieve maximum efficiency in application. The facility for the advance configuration of converters and their motors, and also the intuitive engineering offered by the TIA Portal make for significantly simplified and faster commissioning processes. “Our approach of an integrated drive system optimised for every application offers a tangible benefit to our customers across a wide range of different industries. By engineering the drive system in the TIA Portal, for instance, our customers can cut development times by 30%. Seamless integration increases the availability of applications and plants to as much as 99%, and at the same time leads to maintenance cost savings of up to 15%”, said Siemens Drive Technologies Division CEO Ralf-Michael Franke.
With IDS, Siemens is taking its drive technology a decisive step towards the manufacturing of the future. It is only with optimum dimensioning of every component of a drive system and seamless networking with the control and production level that smart, self-optimising and independently operating production sequences will become a reality. This will open up scope for significant increases in productivity and energy efficiency as well as sustainable, economical operation of the relevant application over its entire life cycle.
Services form another focus of this year’s trade fair presentation. “Growing complexity and the increasing IT penetration of production mean that the need for services around the analysis of production data is on the rise”, explains Siemens Customer Services Division CEO Dirk Hoke. “We are extending our portfolio in this area, in particular in the field of remote maintenance solutions and cloud-based services”. The company’s 'drive train condition monitoring' services, for instance, range from mobile analysis of individual components such as motors or gears through to continuous online monitoring of the entire drive train. Siemens is also extending its offering of what it calls 'data-driven services', such as the continuous acquisition and analysis of process and production data in real time. This allows future developments to be computed and the right decisions derived for production. Through the selective acquisition of data and its meaningful analysis, offered services such as 'energy analytics' will permit tangible energy savings. Monitoring the condition of running systems ('asset analytics services') also helps to safeguard machine and plant availability. The acquisition and analysis of the relevant data allows users to respond quickly to material wear and other disruption factors with planned preventive maintenance work, averting costly unplanned production downtime and major damage. A third area of focus is integrated solutions in the field of industrial security services, helping to protect the overall information and technology of industrial plants against cyber attacks from external sources as well as from internal faults.
Production lines are growing increasingly complex, networked and communicative. Processes are becoming faster and more elaborate. As the level of complexity rises, the demands made on reliable power distribution increase at the same time. While power has to be available at all times, ever greater demands are also made on protection and fail safety. It is as important to prevent electric shock accidents during maintenance work as it is to reduce costly production downtimes. Because a power cut of even just a few seconds can mean scrapping whole production batches, sustainable productivity and the efficient use of energy in modern industrial operations are only possible if the systems and equipment used are adequately protected from failures caused by electrical faults. Integrated protection concepts for industrial operations are a part of the Siemens Totally Integrated Power (TIP) power distribution portfolio. “TIP stands for a comprehensive spectrum of products, systems and solutions for the low and medium voltage levels, with our added support throughout the whole life cycle, from planning using our own software tools, through installation to operation and servicing”, explains the Siemens Low and Medium Voltage Division CEO Ralf Christian. “Smart interfaces permit link-up to building or industrial automation, leveraging the entire potential for optimisation offered by a truly integrated solution”. Among the Siemens highlights on show in Hanover will be the new compact moulded case circuit breaker series 3VA for low voltage power distribution. Moulded case circuit breakers are among the most important protective components of any low-voltage power distribution system, with more than an estimated 30 million of them installed every year into a wide variety of different technical environments. These devices are assuming an ever greater number of operationally relevant tasks such as the acquisition of energy data.
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